You were almost to MOAB!
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The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)
- Thread starter mosesburb
- Start date
You were almost to MOAB!
After a couple days of triple digit temperature camping, the missus was ready for a room with some a/c. Works for me too. So after a bit more we roll into Moab.
Larry and Lynn head off to a camp area and we got a room at the five star, super luxurious, Motel 6. We wandered around town a bit, got some food and went back to the room. At the room we had wifi, so I was checking out the news and what I was finding was that most of the fires in SW Colorado had been put out. Huh?? Larry had gone through Durango on Saturday morning and it was full of smoke from the State Line Fire. Outside of Durango in Mancos, the fire was almost up to the side of the road. He had some pics of the fire and it was right there. The news I am finding is saying it is out. It wasn't even under control when he rolled through and it out now?? Hmm, a change of venue may be in order. This entire trip had been planned to be in Colorado, but everywhere(!!) we wanted to go was either on fire or full of smoke from a fire next to it. Hmm, getting into CO would be a good thing.
We get up the next morning and load up. We head up the road a bit to Arches National Park. Amazing scenery. I have been to Moab several times, but I had never been to Arches. Glad we got there this time. The visitor center is probably one of the best visitor centers I have seen. There is a great amount of information there about the park and local geology. We spend a little bit there and head down the road into the park. It takes no time to start seeing cool stuff. We went in and hit the stuff we wanted to stop at on the way out.
This is Double Arch. It is kind of hard to see in the pic, but there are actually two arches in the pic:
This is the arch that was represented on Utah's license plates for many years: It's called Delicate Arch
This pic does this area no justice whatsoever. It is like a garden of spires:
Larry and Lynn head off to a camp area and we got a room at the five star, super luxurious, Motel 6. We wandered around town a bit, got some food and went back to the room. At the room we had wifi, so I was checking out the news and what I was finding was that most of the fires in SW Colorado had been put out. Huh?? Larry had gone through Durango on Saturday morning and it was full of smoke from the State Line Fire. Outside of Durango in Mancos, the fire was almost up to the side of the road. He had some pics of the fire and it was right there. The news I am finding is saying it is out. It wasn't even under control when he rolled through and it out now?? Hmm, a change of venue may be in order. This entire trip had been planned to be in Colorado, but everywhere(!!) we wanted to go was either on fire or full of smoke from a fire next to it. Hmm, getting into CO would be a good thing.
We get up the next morning and load up. We head up the road a bit to Arches National Park. Amazing scenery. I have been to Moab several times, but I had never been to Arches. Glad we got there this time. The visitor center is probably one of the best visitor centers I have seen. There is a great amount of information there about the park and local geology. We spend a little bit there and head down the road into the park. It takes no time to start seeing cool stuff. We went in and hit the stuff we wanted to stop at on the way out.
This is Double Arch. It is kind of hard to see in the pic, but there are actually two arches in the pic:
This is the arch that was represented on Utah's license plates for many years: It's called Delicate Arch
This pic does this area no justice whatsoever. It is like a garden of spires:
Amazing..
Thanks!!
So we meet up with Larry in a parking lot and head out toward Mesa Verde National Park. Initially, this was to be our day two stop, but because of the aforementioned fires, well, no such luck.
Some scenery along the way:
I like this pic, but I wish I held the camera a bit straighter. One of the detriments of drive-by photography I guess:
We ended up rolling into Durango for the evening while Larry and Lynn went to a camp ground in MVNP. We came across one of these--actually a few of them:
We spent some time wandering around downtown Durango, got a room and the next morning headed back to MVNP to meet up with Larry. On the way we passed what had been the Mancos fire that was burning wildly when Larry passed through a few days prior:
Pretty amazing those houses were saved:
We arrived:
Old Suburbans that have a Cummins in them with a straight pipe sound really cool in tunnels.....
We took the Balcony House tour. Pretty neat deal. You have to climb that 35' ladder. Kind of an odd feeling after about ten feet or so as the ladder has a harmonic motion/frequency when there are ten or twelve people on it.
This is where Balcony House gets its name: That balcony is how they got into and out of the rooms.
Now this little gem is how you leave the lower area of Balcony House. You climb a ladder then proceed up the rounded rock face that has little flat spots cut into it for your feet all while traversing it at an angle. Little bit sketchy to say the least.
This is another area to view more ruins. This place is almost more inpressive than Balcony House. It is the Spruce Tree House. Really neat.
Apartment living at its finest:
On the way out:
Some scenery along the way:
I like this pic, but I wish I held the camera a bit straighter. One of the detriments of drive-by photography I guess:
We ended up rolling into Durango for the evening while Larry and Lynn went to a camp ground in MVNP. We came across one of these--actually a few of them:
We spent some time wandering around downtown Durango, got a room and the next morning headed back to MVNP to meet up with Larry. On the way we passed what had been the Mancos fire that was burning wildly when Larry passed through a few days prior:
Pretty amazing those houses were saved:
We arrived:
Old Suburbans that have a Cummins in them with a straight pipe sound really cool in tunnels.....
We took the Balcony House tour. Pretty neat deal. You have to climb that 35' ladder. Kind of an odd feeling after about ten feet or so as the ladder has a harmonic motion/frequency when there are ten or twelve people on it.
This is where Balcony House gets its name: That balcony is how they got into and out of the rooms.
Now this little gem is how you leave the lower area of Balcony House. You climb a ladder then proceed up the rounded rock face that has little flat spots cut into it for your feet all while traversing it at an angle. Little bit sketchy to say the least.
This is another area to view more ruins. This place is almost more inpressive than Balcony House. It is the Spruce Tree House. Really neat.
Apartment living at its finest:
On the way out:
It would be cool to be there when that rock fell(as long as you aren't anywhere in its path)! Where will it go after it falls?
So beautiful it looks unreal!
I like the grainary shot too.
I like the grainary shot too.
Down??
So beautiful it looks unreal!
I like the grainary shot too.
So beautiful it looks unreal!
So you like it, then a minute later you don't?? Did you go female there for a second?? Me?? I like them. I like rolling into a small town and seeing a huge setup of granary bins, or even just a small one. I have been in some real small towns that had massive setups. Large enough it made me stop and say wow. There was a real old CO-OP a couple towns over from where I lived in a previous lifetime and it had been out of business a long time, but it still had the old feed truck (early 60's C60) with the auger on top parked next to the office ready to go out on the route. It would have made a super-cool pic, but it has been gone many years now.
So after we left MVNP, we headed over to Durango to meet up with our buddy Bill in his well-equipped Ramcharger. We got some Serious Texas Bar-B-Q and lit out towards Imogene Pass. First view of Silverton:
Rolling into town:
The Wyman Hotel. Super-cool looking building.
In this pic is the Idarado Mine Trestle, the Vanderbuilt Mine, the Genessee Mine, the Yankee Girl Mine, Red Mountain number 2 and Red Mountain number 3. Yep, all in one pic.
Colorado suffers from surface water contamination from mine runoff too. Neat looking in an odd sort of way, but really bad when you think about it:
Close up of the Yankee Girl Mine:
Head frame of a tram:
View down Hwy 550, also known as the Million Dollar Highway as it cost a million dollars a mile to build back in the 1800s.
Tunnel on 550 before Ouray:
Rolling into town:
The Wyman Hotel. Super-cool looking building.
In this pic is the Idarado Mine Trestle, the Vanderbuilt Mine, the Genessee Mine, the Yankee Girl Mine, Red Mountain number 2 and Red Mountain number 3. Yep, all in one pic.
Colorado suffers from surface water contamination from mine runoff too. Neat looking in an odd sort of way, but really bad when you think about it:
Close up of the Yankee Girl Mine:
Head frame of a tram:
View down Hwy 550, also known as the Million Dollar Highway as it cost a million dollars a mile to build back in the 1800s.
Tunnel on 550 before Ouray:
OK, you got me, that is a correct answer.
I'll be more specific, after it falls down and chunks of it go down that 2nd hill at the bottom of the pic, whats under there? Anything that could get damaged or just a bunch more rock?
OK, you got me, that is a correct answer.
Just another level. It's been happening for tens of tousands of years, so it will probably break up into smaller chunks on the first impact, then fall off as smaller bits and pieces into the valley next to it. Eventually those will chemically weather into smaller and smaller pieces eventually ending up as the sand on the floor of the valley.
So we just barely get to Ouray and we take a left onto Camp Bird Rd. This leads us toward Imogene Pass.
Neat overhang on the trail:
This is right about where Camp Bird Rd turns into Imogene Pass: The bridge looked a little too sketchy for some heavy full-size trucks
Our camp that evening on a nice point looking out over a nice valley with some fantastic views of the surrounding peaks: (We were actually chilly/cold that evening--slight change from the triple digits of our previous camps)
Up the trail a little ways:
Old miner's cabin:
Still furnished:
Just past there, a view over Camp Bird Mine 14 Level is quite the spectacle:
On an unrelated, but related side note, a company is in the process of purchasing the Camp Bird facility and 11,000 acres surrounding with plans of restarting the operation and renovating the victorian era buildings on site. As of today they have built a building to house heavy equipment and have about ten or so employees on the project. The portal on 14 level has collapsed recently and needs repair to allow access to the workings. The 14 level portal is also a flowing stream currently and, quite ironically, is flowing some extraordinarily clean water that they are planning on holding and using in buildings and offices.
Quite a drop-off here:
We were getting a kick out of these people in the tour truck. They paid a bunch of money to see the sights and the people in the last two rows were constantly turned around watching us crawl over the trail behind them. They were taking pictures and videos of us for a couple/few miles.
Larry demonstrating why a low center of gravity is a good thing:
Up toward Yankee Boy Basin:
Tundra flowers in bloom with Bill's Ramcharger at the top:
Top of Imogene:
Proof that we all made it:
Neat overhang on the trail:
This is right about where Camp Bird Rd turns into Imogene Pass: The bridge looked a little too sketchy for some heavy full-size trucks
Our camp that evening on a nice point looking out over a nice valley with some fantastic views of the surrounding peaks: (We were actually chilly/cold that evening--slight change from the triple digits of our previous camps)
Up the trail a little ways:
Old miner's cabin:
Still furnished:
Just past there, a view over Camp Bird Mine 14 Level is quite the spectacle:
On an unrelated, but related side note, a company is in the process of purchasing the Camp Bird facility and 11,000 acres surrounding with plans of restarting the operation and renovating the victorian era buildings on site. As of today they have built a building to house heavy equipment and have about ten or so employees on the project. The portal on 14 level has collapsed recently and needs repair to allow access to the workings. The 14 level portal is also a flowing stream currently and, quite ironically, is flowing some extraordinarily clean water that they are planning on holding and using in buildings and offices.
Quite a drop-off here:
We were getting a kick out of these people in the tour truck. They paid a bunch of money to see the sights and the people in the last two rows were constantly turned around watching us crawl over the trail behind them. They were taking pictures and videos of us for a couple/few miles.
Larry demonstrating why a low center of gravity is a good thing:
Up toward Yankee Boy Basin:
Tundra flowers in bloom with Bill's Ramcharger at the top:
Top of Imogene:
Proof that we all made it:
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Thats the stuff dreams are made of.
No I like it!! Just wasn`t sure if I spelled granary right so I thought I had edited it out. Guess not.I got a pic of a old wooden one in the farming thread.
I really like old farm towns and old mining towns...that is ONE of the reasons I love to look at your pics.
It could not have been better for the cards we were dealt.
I got a pic of a old wooden one in the farming thread.
I really like old farm towns and old mining towns...that is ONE of the reasons I love to look at your pics.
I hadn't seen that one. I like it. We were traveling through central Illinois years ago and we rolled into a town called Gibson City. This place had a setup with probably 80 silos and an untold number of bins. Amazingly huge setup for the middle of nowhere in a town of a couple maybe a few thousand people. Really neat.
So we start down the hill and shortly arrive at the Tomboy Mine area. This was a pretty massive operation back in the day. Many large foundations remain. There are a couple buildings still standing as well.
We'll start with a gratuitous truck shot:
Further down Imogene, Black Bear Pass/Bridal Veil Falls comes into view. Neat looking, but I will never have pics from that trail to post.
Bridge!!
Eventually, after avoiding many brain donors in rental Jeeps, the town of Telluride is reached:
Telluride is a neat town, but has been taken over by big Hollywierd money. We aired up, cruised main street, and split. We went out through the valley and around to Ridgeway.
We'll start with a gratuitous truck shot:
Further down Imogene, Black Bear Pass/Bridal Veil Falls comes into view. Neat looking, but I will never have pics from that trail to post.
Bridge!!
Eventually, after avoiding many brain donors in rental Jeeps, the town of Telluride is reached:
Telluride is a neat town, but has been taken over by big Hollywierd money. We aired up, cruised main street, and split. We went out through the valley and around to Ridgeway.
Cool pics as usual!
While we were in Ridgeway getting fuel a thunderstorm arose to the south (our intended travel direction). We had to make a quick decision and we decided to get a room in Ouray and Bill and Larry headed down to Corkscrew to camp. We stopped at the Best Western Twin Peaks and got the last room. It is a neat place as it has hot springs on site.
Ouray is surrounded by high peaks and there is really only one place you can look out of town. The day we were there it was rainy and the clouds were lower than the surrounding peaks making for a very neat experience. We wandered around town for a bit, had a horrible/terrible/ridiculous dining experience, did some more wandering and went back to the hotel to go swimming in the hot pool.
The Beaumont Hotel:
Ouray is surrounded by high peaks and there is really only one place you can look out of town. The day we were there it was rainy and the clouds were lower than the surrounding peaks making for a very neat experience. We wandered around town for a bit, had a horrible/terrible/ridiculous dining experience, did some more wandering and went back to the hotel to go swimming in the hot pool.
The Beaumont Hotel:
Awesome pictures!
Love the BINGO sign showing through your window.
Love the BINGO sign showing through your window.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Me too! Good job on the lots of gratuitous truck shots! Seems like neither you nor Larry cared much for Imogen pass huh?
